Harlequin Deathjester

WS5 BS5 S3 T3 W2 I7 A3 Ld10 Sv –

Holosuit, Shuriken Shrieker Cannon, Flipbelt

Fear

Fleet

Furious Charge

Hit & Run

Independent Character

Precision Shot

Can buy Haywire Grenades, Enigmas of the Black Library

Death is Not Enough: If an enemy unit suffers casualties from the Shrieker cannon, it must make a Ld. check at -2. If it fails, the Jeath Jester determines which direction the units falls backon it’s initial fallback move!

It seems stupid, but it’s exactly the kind of unusual rule that I like in a wargame. It’s so much more effective than the usual “how good can you murder stuff.”

Ross Gustafson

Makes it more tactical. Your death jesters have a real purpose. I like how the harlequins are coming together.

Majere613

I’m not sure how many people have noticed this yet, but in 7th a Falling Back unit is destroyed if it hits any table edge. That makes Deathjesters very dangerous to units on flanks.

ReveredChaplainDrake

Oh it’s awesome, sure.

Now watch all that creativity, lateral thinking, and neat ideas get kicked to the curb when GW *isn’t* indulging in a pet project. Say… Sisters.

Matthew

Who uses Howling Banshees?

Chris Johnson

Imagine teaming it up with a hemlock.

Peter Bejmuk

Really pissed that the DJ doesn’t have the option for a heat/bright lance. GW has invalidated a lot of old Harlequin models with this release >=c(

chris2155

when did they before? are you saying they invalidated models from a long time ago? the death jester does not have access to alternate weapons in the current Eldar book.

NikosanPrime

The original Harlequin models had the choice of a bright lance or shrieker cannon. I have 3 or for bright lance Death Jesters.

Chris Johnson

I don’t recall that. Pretty sure 2nd ed. DJ’s just had a shrieker cannon. Are you talking rogue trader days or did i miss something somewhere?

Erik Setzer

Not sure when, but I have one that I just dug out of a bag and slapped on a base (after cleaning, of course). I was hoping to use it for some anti-tank. Leaving out an option just because it’s cheaper to make one model with no options is lame.

As “dynamic” as the Harlequin models are, I’ve already run into the problem with GW’s new style of making models: They’re all way too bloody similar. It was annoying enough with the Stormfiends, but Harlequins are worse because they should be so unique. I spent a couple hours modifying my second Troupe box so they weren’t all leaping off the exact same bits of scenery in the same poses as the first Troupe, but at least for those who won’t/can’t put that much effort into modifying them, you can change weapons and do a couple other things. If the character models are all exactly the same, the same gear, the same pose, on the same piece of terrain… well, that’s going to look pretty darn dull on the table. Luckily there’s only one Solitaire per army, but the other characters will be pretty glaring in how they’re exactly the same, especially as you’re going to be taking multiples.

chris2155

if you have the models, then you have an alternate for the death jester and seer pose already..I dont mind the poses..we only had one pose with the previous models for years..were you making a point of how dull they were before?

Erik Setzer

Just because I have an alternate doesn’t make it cool for the people who don’t have models that are over 20 years old. And given that I have three Death Jesters, all three of which are completely different, and two of them are actually pointing their weapon as if they’re firing while the last one is in the same pose as the new model sans a piece of terrain, I’d say they were actually *less* dull before. Slapping models on a piece of terrain that highlights how cheap you are about not making different sculpts or options for posing a model – especially when you’ve recently been hyping up how much plastic and all could let you do that – doesn’t make them less dull. One pose with no options is dull.

Cylux

I’ve already run into the problem with GW’s new style of making models: They’re all way too bloody similar.

*looks at old single pose Finecast Harlequins*
Yes.
‘New’ style of making models…

Ross Gustafson

GW does not have to validate 2nd edition old models. After 20+ years and no codex releases, they can reinvent the army as much as they want.

Spacefrisian

They had a free to download codex for them way back when they werent the big “evil” corp. That Solitair could move like 24″ all the time and had 12 attacks (or something crazy op if iam not mistaken.)

NikosanPrime

I agree, it is just a limitation on the army I thought they would have avoided. I will still buy the new models, I am a collector of sorts, but it would have been nice if they had some decent anti tank long range weapons.

I will probably field all my old Death Jesters as Scourges (ability to flit around the battle field quickly) and see how that turns out.

I just hate having invalidated models that still make sense. Like High Avatars and High Warlocks and Harlequin Wraithlords (although Dreadnoughts back then).

But hey, I’ll figure out something. I just think they missed out on a lot of opportunities.

chris2155

the “Original” models…when did those come out..10-15-20 years ago? you see the problem with your argument right?

Erik Setzer

The “problem” with his argument is that he’s not thinking like a young kid who’s never seen those models and thus believes they should be invalidated without question?

Gosh, you’re right, Eldar jetbikes are at least 20 years old, so just writing those completely out of the Eldar codex should be no problem at all. Ditto for just changing their armament so they can’t even use shuriken catapults or shuriken cannons. Yeah, that’s logical.

That makes soooooo much more sense than GW just making a different weapon option when they’re charging a lot more for models made with a cheaper material that they kept claiming would allow them to make more dynamic models that would be better for people to model.

deris87

The problem is they haven’t SOLD those models in 10+ years.

Erick

The weapon options were already invalidated like 2 or 3 codexes ago. You should have been mad about it then, being mad about it now is… well I don’t mean to speak in superlatives but “pointless,” fits quite nicely.

GiftoftheMagi

WAAAAAYYYYY back in 1st/2nd Edition, there was a Death Jester model with a Lascannon….which in 3rd Ed and on became a Bright Lance. However, the only rules for Harlequins then was the CJ article army, which I believe allowed the DJ to take the Shrieker Cannon, Bright Lance and Heat Lance.

Brettila

And THAT was a total fanboy army with ridiculous rules.

GiftoftheMagi

It was and it wasn’t. True the rules were outrageous (the Solitaire could have a potential TWENTY HTH ATTACKS ON ASSAULT), but thet were still the most fragile army out there. It was completely unforgiving of mistakes and you could quickly lose whole units to a couple of flamers (almost no one had anything but a weak cover save.)

deris87

You mean… invalidated those models that have already been invalid for nearly 10 years? Hell, even prior to the 4th ed Eldar book I don’t know how usable those Death Jesters were, they could’ve been unusable even longer than that. It’s hard to take seriously your gripe that 20 year old models aren’t valid anymore.

GiftoftheMagi

Death Jesters in 1st to 3rd suffered from low mobility, often due to move or fire rules or ones that greatly reduced your BS. In 2nd ed I saw them mainly used to take advantage of the Overwatch rules of the time, trying to pop that cheap character with the jump pack and Vortex Grenade before he killed your commander.

James McKenzie

So, a Death Jester has a greater effect on morale then Night Lords? Good move G-dub,
Good move.

chris2155

i certainly like it..eww, it’ll be fun to troll night lord players with this ability..ha ha ha

James McKenzie

I find it hilarious too.

Marky

Night lords are just trying too hard.. 🙂

I don’t see the problem really, psychic, gymnast, space elf super ninjas with crazy weapons are meant to be scary… It’s the masks

ReveredChaplainDrake

Except who do they mean to scare?

I imagine a conscript looking at a Harlequin jumping and dancing around. The conscript might let out a “…huh…” because the culture barrier is more impenetrable than a void shield, making the horror that Harlies are supposed to convey completely lost on some backwater mon-keigh yokel.

Night Lords? Those guys speak terror in a language you can understand. Comparing them to Harlies is like comparing Saw to that oddly surreal Mark Twain claymation movie. The former makes a concerted effort to turn your stomach. The latter just makes you feel kinda’ weirded out.

Mud_Duck

You forgot about the hallucinogens and physic power/ mind games that the Shadow Seer is kicking out, And the masks that changing round in to fearful things. And that’s just for the new guys, think what someone who has seen what a Kiss can do to a body, or a tank for that matter, or how they ‘pop’ next to their victim, kill, and ‘pop’ out.

Mud_Duck

You forgot about the hallucinogens and physic power/ mind games that the Shadow Seer is kicking out, And the masks that changing round in to fearful things. And that’s just for the new guys, think what someone who has seen what a Kiss can do to a body, or a tank for that matter, or how they ‘pop’ next to their victim, kill, and ‘pop’ out.

Dim

Death Jesters have been striking fear into the hearts of their enemies since before man evolved from the primeval soup. Trust me, the Harlequins are very unimpressed by how hard the Night Lords try.

An_Enemy

Hmm…I’d probably be more scared of Pennywise from It than Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

James McKenzie

Haha, I can’t help but think of Buffalo Bill in Joe Dirt…

Valourousheart

I was more afraid of Jay’s impersonation of Buffalo Bill in Clerks 2 than I was of Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

It’s the designers cleanly representing the fact that killer clowns are WAY more scary than batwings…

James McKenzie

Nothing scarier then ‘batsy’…. lol. I think the artwork for Night Lords are scarier then the model, same for the Death Jester, the miniature isn’t that scary. Now a ‘IT’ type clown, with the Ronald McDonald hair, the razor sharp teeth, yeah, that’s scary….

benn grimm

They’re not scared of the guy, they’re scared of the gun and the way it just made their squad-mate explode all over the place.

ReveredChaplainDrake

Oh if only Night Lords had a gun that could even make a flak-armored guardsmen explode into a puddle of gore- oh wait… Bolters.

For the difference on shriekers and boltguns, see the 2nd ed wargear book, just in case you dont have a copy handy let me paraphrase; ‘the serum (that introduced by the shuriken shrieker ammo) works in a very complex and unpleasant manner, combining with the victims own genetic material, twisting and distorting tissues and causing organs to malfunction in a spectacular fashion…..killing the victim in a particularly horrifying and untidy manner…’
Whereas a boltgun is basically a mini grenade launcher, with the explosive armed by a sudden increase in mass surrounding the bolt round.
Both are pretty nasty, but I think I know which would scare me more when it took down the guy next to me… Plus you know, it screams at you as it fires…just saying… 😉

Insert_nickname_here

The Joker being scarier than Batman? Yeah, I could go with that.

Tynskel

I’m going to show you how to make this pencil disappear…

ReveredChaplainDrake

For the record, I never got this association between Night Lords and Batman, and they get even further apart the more you learn about each one. They both use fear to terrify criminals into complacency… and that’s about where things stop.

Batman lives a double life: a caped crusader of the night, and a billionaire philanthropist. Night Lords are murderous thugs all the time. More to the point, Batman goes out of his way to avoid killing his enemies. Night Lords… not so much.

kingcobra668

Comments like these just show that people that constantly complain do so because they have no idea what they are talking about.

James McKenzie

Yes, the Noght Lords army that thrives on using fear and terror tactics should have no rules that represent that. The only person commenting with no idea is you. Congratulations, now go back to your crack pipe.

kingcobra668

of course ignoring the fact that Harlequins use hardcore future alien tech to cause utter terror at the very core of the victims soul. Typical fan boi crying because someone has something better than them, despite it being completely valid. Night Lords try to scare with actions. Harlequins force your soul to be in terror simply by being in close proximity. They don’t have to actually do anything. Then, that is ignoring the fact that they are also deadly killing machines with weapons that cause you to erupt from within.
Oh no, not bat helmets and chain swords! Oh the terror!

James McKenzie

Apples and oranges, the Night Lords also use demonic and warp abilities to cause fear. Oh, and I’m not a NL fanboi, I just found it funny as did most of the people who commented. Your reply strikes me as very fanboi tho, I ca just imagine you having a debate about something like “Eldrad is more powerful then Ahriman” or something equally good. “He has an eleven staff, it gives him +3 charisma, and combined with his boots of escaping adding +D3 agility he is clearly the superior specimen.”

End of the day man, terror tactics are terror tactics, and if one race gets them, perhaps another should. If not, fine, I don’t really care, either way, a few of us got to laugh about creepy clowns vs comical bat helms.

Ataberk Bozkurt

But Eldrad is more powerful than Ahriman as a Psyker. He even foresee Horus goddamn Heresy.

mikethefish

Models are a little dissapointing. Not in a “holy sh!* those things suck!” kinda way. More of just a let-down, compared to how cool everything else has been. Death Jester’s mask and pose are particularly awkward looking

A.P.

And it it just looks Illic went in for a wardrobe change.

chris2155

cool looking model, horrible rules..one of the best snipers in the 40k setting who has a real hard time wounding anything. with only 5-7 shots per game, he needs to be a lot better.

yoash barak

You ARE aware his gun has 3 S6 bladestorm shots, right?

And he has precision shots for pinpoint targeting.

He’s killing stuff.

Plus, with direction-controlled moral fails of the enemy, and pinning-he is stacking some debuffs.

Liberame

He’s talking about illic

GiftoftheMagi

The Death Jester seems ok save for that weird lantern jaw. The Shadowseer is fine but the paint job is UGLY.

I am a bit disappointed that DJs still have no AT or AA ability, but I guess they want them focused on long-range support for the troupes. WHo knows, maybe the Codex will have something for them. The Shadowseer rules are ok, nothing special…but I want to see that new Phantasmancy in play.

Jason Brown

What if he kills someone with overwatch?

GaryT

At least Dark Angels won’t have to put up with the Death is Not Enough rule. They have stubborn so automatically pass those tests without having to roll for them.

Liberame

Am I mistaken in thinking stubborn just ignores the penalty to leadership, but still have to take the test?

GaryT

Stubborn means that they automatically pass morale tests, although I’m not sure how that would work with that particular Harlequin leadership test. Anyone got any ideas? Would stubborn still apply here?

I would assume they’re only allowed Sanctified daemonology, ie. all the anti-demon stuff. 🙂

Benjamin Tull

And the LE version of the Codex comes with the Sanctic cards, not the Malefic cards.

wordbearer

So GW is still acting like having malefic daemonology is a good thing on every model? So how long does anyone think it will take for someone to build a summoning bullcrap list with 20 shadowseers?

anscarii

Harlequins are guardians of the black library that contains every knowledge eldar have about chaos so it makes a lot of sense (even more than grey knights actually) that they can use daemonology. Furthermore you cannot field more than 7 shadowseers in any way. they cannot use normal organization charter cause the dont have mandatory HQ. they only can be fielded with her own charter (with mandatory 3 line, 2 fast attack, 1 heavy support) or by formations none of wich allows you field more than 7. And finally if you field 7 shadowseers to only summon demons you deserve horrible death.

wordbearer

Unbound, that is the answer to your first point.

I fully agree on the knowledge of daemons giving them SANTIC, but as a species wholly inimical to chaos malefic makes no sense.

Yes they deserve horrible death. Yet I know two players at my shop who have been discussing such a list. So you have perspective, one of them took several heralds of Tzeentch and a void shield generator in a 500 point friendly match…

anscarii

well just dont play with them. sooner or later they gonna run out of people to play with if they maintain that attitude. In the end this is a GAME its supposed to be funny.

ReveredChaplainDrake

Y’know, this kind of thing would make a lot more sense if Daemonology were just split into Malefic and Sanctic tables, not bundled together in a package deal less sensible than a Bible and a porno.

wordbearer

I applaud your analogy sir!

Commissar Molotov

I am now tempted to Google “Bible porn” just to see the results…

kingcobra668

I haven’t read the comments in the community in quite some time. Now I remember why. What a toxic bunch of people.

Other than all the folks who upvoted me during our little tet-a-tet before you cried and got the comments closed, you clearly read what I have to say, considering you have been stalking my Disqus profile all morning to see where I am trolling other fools like you.

Dude, let it go, it’s kind of sad. Stalking me on the internet won’t change the fact that tournament 40K is the worst format of an already
crappy game, made even worse by arbitrary house rules. So you made it to the top table (I assume, I didn’t actually read the report beyond the army lists, but from your investment into this I imagine you were indeed one of the two). Congrats. You are now the smartest kid with Downs syndrome.

As for your question, I don’t like the ruin bases for two reasons:

1.) The ruins are very distinctly Eldar. I guess Harlequins only visit Crone Worlds and other former Eldar holdings? This may well be the new fluff direction, it remains to be seen once I have the book in hand.

2.) All three characters are on almost identically pieces of rune. They are all part of an arch leaning in the same direction. They could have at least reversed the ruins, if adding a column, or a crumbled head of some old statue, or anything more creative was just too difficult. It all just seems so damn generic.

Hahaha, so not only are you stalking me across the internet responding to every post I make, now you are parroting me as well? Listen, it’s sweet that you enjoy my work, but I only bang my fangirls that have vaginas, not those that are one.